


in the red you're better off dead

by TheCrowBitesDust



Category: Red Dead Online, Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Muteness, Protagonist (Red Dead Online) - Freeform, Red Dead Online - Freeform, mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24797068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrowBitesDust/pseuds/TheCrowBitesDust
Summary: Series of Red Dead Redemption 2 snippets, featuring Story and Online characters (including my Online character).No cohesive plots, AUs are thrown in here, tags will be updated as it goes along
Kudos: 4





	in the red you're better off dead

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a lyric from the song Shut Eye by Stealing Sheep

Malwoden pulled the wagon now, after Stephen had settled and outgrown the steady paced stallion. It wasn't a surprise to see the surly faced outlaw riding in on a flighty young Hungarian Halfbred mare, silver dappled black like a forest floor through moonlit eyes, leading the loyal stallion behind him. It was however when the reins of said loyal stallion were offered to Cripps with a crinkling about the eyes and a twitch of scarred lips.

Cripps was grateful for the horse- far easier then hauling the damn wagon across country to collect Jenny's shires just to haul it back again- both for its utility and its company. Often, on long nights alone in the dark quiet of night, Cripps would talk aloud to the horse, rambling tales of treacherous pasts and half-formed thoughts. _Ain't much different to talking with Stephen,_ he oft jokes. _At least the horse's more talkative._ Malwoden was strong, and damn well trained- spooked at nothing shy of the devil itself. Gunshots unfazed him entirely, but then again Cripps supposed that they wouldn't, seeing who the horse belonged to. However the grey Kentucky Saddler wasn't always willing to listen to him, and on many an occasion Cripps found himself chasing the horse to a particularly sunny spot or picking up goods that slipped from the suddenly-halted wagon at the sight of fresh grass. Those dark eyes had a way of glittering that made Cripps feel as if he could almost hear the whinnying laughter, crinkling at the edges in a way very reminiscent of another. 

But as soon as Stephen entered camp, the instance of roughened hands on well-oiled reins and filthy boots on shining stirrups- that was when Malwoden grew docile and soft as a newborn hare, flowing effortlessly forward with barely a brush of the reins and turning on a dime at a ghost of a squeeze. To see a coat that Cripps kept at least presentable shining silver as a fresh minted dime, see mane and tail as finely preened as a king's geldings; it was sweet. Cripps found an odd sort of peace to see Stephan work with horses, to see those stony stiff features melt like ice at the dawn of spring into something warm and moving and alive again. To see the usually blunt headed stallion melt into a quiet obedient fighting force was quite a sight. Malwoden tolerated Cripps, but his heart and loyalty belonged to another man.

And it was clear to see in the soft touches and quiet murmurs of Stephan, the slips of peppermint and shared breaths and gentle hands, that the feeling was a mutual one. 

  
  


The Hungarian Halfbred was a wild one. Flighty, that was the first impression Cripps got from her. Gangly and awkward came next. It took him several weeks to ascertain her name, scrawled on a scrap of paper in Stephan's sharp cursive. _Chwilen,_ and he dared ask its meaning and was told bluntly that it meant "a beetle". In what tongue was never divulged.

A huge war-bred horse, standing taller than Cripps by a good few feet, Chwilen was a wall of muscle and power not to be contested with. But her gait was faltering, her poise nervous and jagged. It was abundantly clear that this was a horse not yet used to her size, stepping with delicate fear that seemed in little control of her own strength. The mare was young, that much was obvious. Barely broken. A bit of a nervous wreck of a horse.

Not exactly suited to a life of fighting and fear.

It was through firm hands and callous coaxing that she was taught. Awakening at the edges of dawn, bringing her out to the forest where the crack of gunfire sent birds scattering into gold-laced skies. Through running hard over swathes of grasslands wild and free as the horses that ran with them to delicate saloming between thickly twisted trees. Saddling her overnight, letting her run herself down on biting bits and sharply cut snaffles so that when the actual tack was applied she took to it easier. A period of weeks, maybe months, that Stephan took the time to work her and teach her and train her. She ran alongside Malwoden in missions of hunting (animals, for now) and gathering. Let her trot beside wagons of carcasses and 'shine, loose leather and loyalty the only thing keeping her there. 

And then one day he oiled up the rolling block, took her by the reins and returned with a bullet in his shoulder and a bounty in his hand. 

Chwilen stood still and quiet for Cripps as he brushed dried blood from her fur. Her eyes were half-lidded, dark depths imbued with thoughts Cripps could barely catch- a sense of stillness, sadness about them all. 

Her saddle lay unused for a few days.

When grey straps drew tight once again over dappled fur Cripps could swear he saw joy in her eyes. As he stepped back to check the saddle he took in her surefootness; there was confidence in her posture, strength flowing beneath grey fur, power coiling at her hooves. This horse reminded him of a mountain.

And as Stephan mounted up, as surprisingly soft hands led Chwilen out on a hunt of a different sort of prey, the mountain was tamed by the river.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> my lvl 83 rdo account got banned so im just writing fanfic about my horses until i can play again n buy them back
> 
> the names are welsh. Malwoden=Snail. Chwilen=Beetle.  
> Malwoden's a grey Kentucky Saddler, long silver mane + tail laced with reddish brown.  
> Chwilen's a dapple grey Hungarian Halfbred (Nonius), mohawk silver and black mane and plaited tail


End file.
